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April 11 Update
MARCH 24 UPDATE
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From: "Debra S.
“I will not die, but live. And will proclaim what the Lord has done.”
Psalm 118:17
Deb and I continue to claim this for our precious girl and are excited to see how God is unfolding His plan for her. Many praises since our last update…Abby has had stable vitals with no fever or infection for several days now and her brain has been regulating pressure successfully! An MRI was done yesterday and showed reduced swelling and she also had a PICC line put in to allow much needed nutrients to flow directly into her blood stream. All successful!
Now friends we need your prayer. Complications continue to be thrown at Abby and we need to pray against every one of them in earnest. She is not currently tolerating any food. This has been extremely frustrating to watch as she loses more weight each day. The doctors have yet to determine the cause and are attempting various solutions on a trial and error basis. We know that with God there is no such thing as a trial and error approach and pray specifically that He will intervene, preventing any invasive, long term options from occurring. We further ask that God will provide complete healing of her digestive system and allow her to tolerate all nutrients she desperately needs.
The pressure levels in Abby’s brain also continue to be tested. While her body is regulating the current levels nicely, each day the levels are increased to see what her body will do on its own. These next few days are critical to assessing if Abby can regulate this pressure on her own without assistance and determining when the regulating device can be removed from her head. Please pray that all tests are passed with perfect results!
Finally, the AVM and blood clot from her first two bleeds remain and both continue to add pressure where it doesn’t belong, resulting in Abby’s inconsistent state of responsiveness. Please pray boldly for the AVM to be healed completely, and that the blood clot dissipates in Gods perfect timing, resulting in an exponential improvement in her strength.
As Abby’s parents we so desperately want all of this to be fixed immediately - on our time. But as we sit back and give control over to God, we are seeing a tremendous outpouring of His faithfulness, highlighting why His plan and timeline are perfect.
So many miracles in Abby’s journey so far for which we give God all the praise. Looking forward to more!
Thank you for continuing to lift our family in prayer.
MARCH 24 UPDATE
Friends and Family: (Abby update summary and prayer)
PRAYER gathering
note: There will be a gathering for prayer tomorrow (Monday morning) at
Christian Heritage starting at 7:15 am in the barn for all those who are able
to come join hearts for Abby concerning all that is mentioned below.
As we look back at major markers on Abby’s difficult journey
these last weeks, there seems to be a repeated urgency about Mondays. Tomorrow,
Abby faces what we think will be another important Monday for her and we are
again asking you to pray. After much waiting to hear the official word, Abby is
now on the schedule for Monday – around noon – for the surgeons to go in and
try to shut down the AVM which has been the source of both her first and second
brain bleeds since this all began. Since Abby’s second bleed she has been in a
state of trying to “recover”. Recovery at this stage means, amongst other
things, a particular attention to the dissipation of blood in and corresponding
pressure on her brain. During this period, her vitals (heart rate, cranial
pressure levels, breathing, blood pressure, etc) have been up and down – both stable and matter of concern. Fever also
has been an issue for her on and off but with relative frequency. With fever
still persisting, the last few days, however, have been a time of relative
“peace” with regards to her vitals as she “rests”. As Scott has offered in his
posts on facebook, the doctors also communicated in the last few days that she
continues to have swelling on her brainstem. While they wait for this swelling
to dissipate, they have assured Scott and Deb that such swelling is likely the
cause of her lack of responsiveness and some of her issues regarding irregular
breathing. While it has been difficult for Scott and Deb to “wait” for her to
become purposefully responsive in this process, the doctors have most recently
said that while we wait, her levels of responsiveness are right where they
think she should be given such a condition.
My brother and Deb have been so intentional about giving God
praise for His obvious work along this path. Everything from disappearing
aneurisms to crucial drains in her head that remain unclogged and everything in
between, they have wanted to draw attention to every good and perfect thing
coming from God. As you join them in praise, would you also join them in
calling on the Lord for all that needs to take place on this crucial Monday as
Abby tries to move forward? Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in
doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give
up.” There has been so much “good”
accomplished through the prayers of God’s people. We beg you not to give up
before the harvest.
Urgent prayer:
1.
Today, Sunday, Abby is dealing with high fever
and has been since Saturday night. Please pray this comes down immediately.
Doctors are looking for a cause for this in culturing for various infections.
Fever affects heart rate which is obviously an important vital. Pray that if
there is infection of any kind, they are dealt with even before those cultures
come back. PRAY AGAINST ALL INFECTION! -- We
are not sure yet how this fever will or won’t affect Monday’s surgical
procedure.
2.
Related to #1, my brother has asked for prayer
for her vitals… that they are divinely stable.
3.
No more bleeding – This is likely amongst the
most crucial for Abby.
4.
AVM “shut down” procedure – As we have
mentioned, this is a delicate procedure requiring everything from the hands of
an artist, to the intuition of an architect, and the overall mind and
experience of…well one of the top pediatric neurosurgeons in this field. Thank
God Abby has one of the top three! They will go into this AVM with a
thread-like catheter and attempt to inject a “glue” of sorts into this complex
mass of malformed blood vessels. In so doing their goal is to stop this
formation of blood vessels which is not equipped to properly handle blood flow
from being able to host blood at all.
Pray that the doctors are able to discern all the right places that the
glue (embolization) needs to go and that the glue goes only there and no where
else lest it cause any harm.
5.
Related to #4, please pray that in the process
going into this AVM tomorrow that the aneurisms which have been declared
“dormant” and dealt with, that they continue to be so lest they “awaken” in any
way, posing another difficult problem to deal with.
6.
Please continue to pray for strength of heart
and body and soul for Scott and Deb. Psalm 138:3 says, “When I called, you
answered me; you made me bold and the strength of my soul you increased.” Pray that they would literally be walking
testimonies of this provision of God for them.
When we look at the complexity of all this, there is the
tendency that we might have to be overwhelmed. However, if God is for us, who
or what could be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but graciously
gave him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give
us all things?” -- In this we trust. We
continue to be humbled by all of you who care… whose hearts ache for Abby and
thus…pray.
From: "Debra S.
Date: March 12, 2014 at 10:59:47 AM EDT
Subject: Abby Haggerty Update March 12
Again thank you for asking for specific things to pray for. Abby needs it. Abby showed some signs of light body movement last night which is a good thing. Please continue to pray for this to progress. However, an even more urgent and timely need is her vitals this morning. Her vitals of blood pressure, inter cranial pressure, and heart rate are all elevated and the doctors are trying to get her stabilized in these crucial areas. Please ask for God to mercifully and powerfully move in this way. They are also waiting for results back from the important 2 hour MRI that she had late yesterday in which they hope to glean more needed information about the source of the bleed. Lastly, please pray for no more bleeding! Humble thanks again for all those willing to intercede for sweet Abby. She needs us. Scott and Deb need us. Pray also for Scott and Deb to literally be overwhelmed by a real sense of God meeting them right there in the hospital.. providing for them what they need most.
March 10 update
We have been praying for Abby Haggerty - ongoing - and for her surgery this morning. That surgery was thought to have gone well, but now Abby is unresponsive and docs found another brain bleed. She was making good neuro progress 10 days out from her original brain bleed, and now this set-back. Today's surgery was to determine a path forward to determine what to do with the remaining two aneurysms. Please keep praying for this precious child, her parents and all her family.
To:
Subject: Prayer request for Abby Haggerty
Friends and family:
As many of you have been tracking with many of Deb's posts on Facebook, I know there are likely many that have not, so we wanted to get out a brief consolidated update on Abby as tomorrow is another big day for her, and we once again covet your prayers. Thank you to the hundreds and hundreds who have found themselves burdened to pray for Abby and responded to that burden. For asking for detailed updates as to how you can pray specifically, we are so grateful for your loving care and interest.
Abby has been making steady progress over the course of this past week for which we are praising the Lord. She is able to delicately move all of her extremities; arms and legs, fingers, and toes, and manages to crack a little smile/smirk with relative frequency. (She is passing frequent neuro testing in these areas with flying colors.) Abby is breathing on her own and speaks very quietly in hushed tones stringing brief words and short responsive sentences together. She has developed quite an appetite and is eating solid foods again. While the above is remarkable progress for only being 10 days out from her original brain-bleed injury, she spends much of the day very fatigued/sleepy and lethargic as her brain is just beginning a significant journey of healing. Her vision, while accessible to her for sure - and for that we are so thankful - is blurry/unfocused to her when she tries to see more than a few feet away. The doctors have said this is to be expected but the pace at which she will gain clarity, like many things related to the brain, remains unknown and a mystery at this stage. Please pray for her vision to clear, as the man in Mark chapter 8 longed for Jesus to clear his sight that wasn't quite right. (fascinating story!)
To use my brothers words, Abby is a trooper. She endures, with fierce determination, being poked and prodded by well meaning/deeply caring but intrusive nurses several times an hour, even through the night. My brother relayed to me today that while having an MRI - one of many scans she has had - he stood at the foot of the scan bed rubbing her feet, and while in the tube she raised her thumbs to let him know she would be just fine. He needed to hear that.
Where does that leave us? As some already know, tomorrow, Monday, is important. The doctors will again go into Abby's brain to try to discern a "path forward" on the preventative path of her journey. While a precarious procedure to begin with, the goal is to determine what to do with the remaining two aneurisms. As both Scott and Deb have said, the prayer is obvious... that they would be, by the hand of God, completely gone! But should the Lord allow this process of healing to continue to unfold, pray that the doctors are able to discern a true path and method forward with these two threats to Abby. While the first aneurism was "big, ugly, and imminently dangerous", to use the doctor's words, the remaining two are buried deep in the AVM and thus in a difficult place to address to say the least. While Monday's procedure is primarily about "diagnostics", the doctors have said that if, while they are in there, they find that they can actually address some aspect(s) of these aneurisms they will. But they want to proceed with careful caution. We love them for that.
So there we have it. God is faithful and strong and as the first ten days of Abby's difficult story has unfolded, she has felt the hand of God in real ways. We simply need more from our Lord, and we are trusting that his Father's heart for Abby is eager to provide what she needs. Continue to pray fervently for Scott and Deb. While their strong love for Abby and faithful hand of God steadies them for sure, their bodies and minds are weary and their hearts hurt understandably. I know the love they are feeling from so many is a sustaining grace like they have never known.
Shawn Haggerty
FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014
Abby Haggerty...
Family and friends:
We are feeling deeply the prayers of so many this afternoon and want to give an
update on what has transpired today in Abby’s journey through all this. Big day…
After entering into what could have been anywhere from a 2-7 hour surgical
procedure late this morning, Abby was done in just under 2 hours. To use the
doctor’s words, “She was a rock!” After having just met with the chief neurosurgeon,
Dr. Matouk around 3:00, we have learned that the effort to go after the largest of the
three aneurisms was a success and a significant step forward for Abby. Praise the
Lord! Their goal was to place “coils” around the aneurism so as to effectively cut off
its ability to rupture. This was very successful and again, to use the surgeon’s
words, it ended being “textbook” with no complications.
Where does this leave us? Well, in a place of great praise to start. As we look to
what’s next for Abby, you’ll remember that she has two parallel journeys she is on,
walking both simultaneously. The one is a journey of recovery from what has
happened to her thus far, the other a preventative one from future disaster. Phase
one on the preventative journey – a significant one with the prevention of this large
aneurism rupture – has been a success. Though she has, in truth, been “healing” and
recovering since moment one of her AVM rupture, the doctors are going to
concentrate now on the recovery part of her journey from what has happened for
the next week. During this time they will be slowly weaning her off of sedation in
order to assess her neurologically. Approximately a week or so from now, Dr.
Matouk will likely again go back into the effected area through angiogram to assess
the other two smaller aneurisms and determine how he wants to address them.
(This would be back to preventative side of the journey).
Prayer? God has moved his hand in a generous, powerful, and kind way for our
family today and we couldn’t be more in awe. But we are asking for more from Him
and we believe he wants us to. Pray for these next few days in particular as the
assessment of Abby neurologically begins. Pray for open eyes, moving fingers,
independent breathing, even the slightest smile and the ultimate joy of hearing her
say “I love you mom and dad.” These would be Everest-sized steps for her right
now, but we have a Heavenly Father who is capable of them and more… and so we
ask. Pray for no “set-backs” or complications in the areas that we have seen success
in today, and that God would protect her – while she “recovers” – from any bleeding
either from the AVM or the other two aneurisms. Pray boldly for a disappearance of
the other two aneurisms!
We have seen and felt a thousand graces from God these last 5 days. Praise him with
us, while at the same time we humbly ask you to continue on your knees. The
journey continues…
Shawn Haggerty
(Abby’s Uncle)
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